Apr
30th

Jaiku Plugin for WordPress Released!

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JaikuA few days ago I wrote about Jaiku, a ‘micro-blogging’ service. I was immediately impressed with Jaiku because it has a robust API.

After a fun weekend of programming, I’ve released (what I think) is the first Jaiku Plugin for WordPress! Version 1.0.0 is stable and based on code that I had written for my Technorati Rank plugin.

The Jaiku Plugin has 2 key features:

  1. It allows you to display your latest Jaiku presence on your sidebar (You can see mine in my sidebar on my home page).
  2. It also allows you to post your latest presence to Jaiku directly from the Jaiku Options in WordPress!

Additionally, the plugin caches the Jaiku response so we don’t beat up on Jaiku’s API too bad! Enjoy!

Link: Jaiku Plugin for WordPress Project Page

Screenshot:

Jaiku Plugin for WordPress

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16 Comments »

Comment by Petteri Koponen
2007-05-01 10:01:55

Cool! We’re putting together a list of 3rd-party applications on devku.org, Jaiku’s developer site, and we’ll market your project there as well.
 
Comment by switchpack
2007-06-02 13:18:55

I like Jaiku and would like this plugin for my blog. But I can’t activate it. I become a fatal error. :-(
Comment by Douglas Karr
2007-06-02 15:29:07

Hi switchpack,

The issue you’re running into is most-likely your version of PHP. This plugin requires PHP5+ since it utilizes the SimpleXML library. Check with your hosting provider and see if they can upgrade you. PHP5 performs much better and has been out for quite some time. If your host doesn’t offer it, change hosts! ;)

Warmest Regards,
Doug

 
 
Comment by B.
2007-06-03 16:44:46

Hi!

First, thanks for creating this plugin. I was looking for something that could replace the standard Jaiku badges.

Problem is though that a parse error at line 85 is shown each time I try to activate it. Is there a solution to this problem?

Thanks!

Comment by Douglas Karr
2007-06-03 20:39:29

Hi B.,

An error at line 85 means that the SimpleXML library is not available on your server. You’re probably running an older version of PHP, before PHP5.

Doug

Comment by B.
2007-06-04 06:51:30

Alright, thanks for letting me know. I’ve just checked, and indeed the server is running PHP 4.x… too bad. I loved the idea of being able to display my Jaiku activity in text in stead of the badge. Since my host is not planning on upgrading anytime soon, I’ll have to find another way of doing it. Perhaps I’ll attempt to create something that pulls the info from the one Jaiku’s RSS feeds.

Thanks again!
B.

 
 
 
Comment by Jeff
2007-06-08 18:01:50

I am getting the same error when trying to activate the plugin. I checked with GoDaddy and I am running PHP5. Any ideas?
Comment by Douglas Karr
2007-06-08 18:22:38

Jeff,

We’re seeing this with any plugin that utilizes caching. Interestingly, it’s a 500 error on every other page display. If you can contact GoDaddy and get your server logs, I’d really like to take a look at them. There are a lot of notes out on the net about this with GoDaddy. I’d like to see if there’s a way to work around their issue.

Doug

 
 
Comment by Douglas Karr
2007-06-12 19:58:56

Just released 1.0.5: Added the ability to select and post the icon that you’d like to display at Jaiku. Unfortunately, that icon info isn’t retrieved, though, so it’s only viewable at Jaiku.
 
Comment by B.
2007-06-24 10:14:37

Hi Douglas,

Back again with a request: Since my host isn’t going to update PHP to version 5 anytime soon I was wondering if you could perhaps create a (stripped down) version of your plugin? I’m trying to find a way to display my Jaiku activity in text in stead of using one of their badges, but I haven’t been able to figure out how.

Surely it must be possible to extract the info from an RSS feed or something and then displaying only the most recent activity and location in text? So I figured: What if Douglas’ plugin can do that, leaving the extra’s that require PHP5 out… it might be a small change. From my ignorant point of view :-)

Cheers!
B.

Comment by Douglas Karr
2007-06-24 10:21:51

Hi B. It’s absolutely possible for me to do that but I won’t. It’s unforgivable that web hosting companies will take your money but not ensure your safety and performance by maintaining the most up-to-date releases of software.

Please put pressure where pressure is due. Make your host upgrade you or find a new host.

Hope you understand! It’s not you who is ignorant, it’s your hosting company!

Comment by B.
2007-06-24 10:31:52

Alright, that’s perfectly understandable. I’ll ask them again, and in the mean time will try to create something myself. Didn’t mean to pressure you though, just thought I’d ask.. Thanks again!
Comment by Douglas Karr
2007-06-24 10:38:39

Thanks for understanding, B! If you search for “php dom xml”, you should be able to find some great tutorials out there.
(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
 
 
 
Comment by Thomas
2007-07-11 11:46:12

Any way to have more than 1 jaiku displayed?

Thanks

 
Comment by Jason Carrick
2007-12-07 16:42:21

I was wondering if you could shed some light. I entered the wrong API info and the plugin options showed this “Fatal error: Call to undefined function curl_init() in /home/u3/jasonc/blog/html/wp-content/plugins/jaiku-activity/jaiku-activity.php on line 96″ Now even when I enter the correct info it still does not want to work and keeps showing the above error. I removed the plugin and reinserted it but to no avail. Can you over any help.
Comment by Douglas Karr
2007-12-07 18:43:37

Hi Jason,

Curl is a library referenced by the code. It allows your site to make requests to Jaiku to get the data it needs to push/pull the messages.

That’s geek talk…. it usually means that your hosting company doesn’t turn on the curl library by default. If you ask them to, they should. If they don’t - I’d look for another host. :) It’s on by default with most PHP configurations.

Doug

 
 
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